Everything I've heard about this game so far has 4 major sticking points I cannot escape:
The meta is inexplicably poor.
The deaths are often frustratingly bullshit.
The plot leaves threads loose and to the imagination of the player.
The runs can last hours and there is no way to save mid-run.
Yet despite all of this, the game is phenomenal, truly next-gen, and everyone should play it. Eh... it just doesn't add up for me! Not that it matters until I get a PS5 at a retail price but I hope they patch the complaints away. Most of it seems like it could be fixed over time... I just... don't actually trust this developer to continue development as it's not really a thing they're known for. I'm very curious to see where this all goes.
All but your second point are true. Deaths aren't really bullshit, but there are tough rooms that tend to fuck you up in a predictable way if you don't know what you're doing.
There aren't really builds in Returnal so much as there are certain items you want to basically collect every time. Increase protection, get integrity max up (total life), get extra lives, increase damage if you've got extra money, get weapons with better stats. You will consistently be overwhelmed by a large majority of the upgrades. Whoever thought that "increase/decrease time money stays on the ground" was an interesting dynamic should be taken to task, and the utter ubiquity with which you see that stat is baffling. That said, even with all the lackluster upgrades and boring stat bonuses, you still feel good when you get yourself powered up. There's no diversity in builds, aside from the guns you use, but it's still fun despite that.
I kind of like the abstract plot, even if it's too vague, and many of its twists and turns are predictable. There's a certain depth to it that has me thinking about it.
Overall, it's kind of just its own thing, and it's fun to play, looks great, and has many of the addictive hooks of other roguelites despite not having any interesting capacity for diverse builds.
Also, the boss battles, while being a little bit too easy I think, have this incredible sense of majesty to them. The music combined with the bullet hell fireworks kind of puts me in a fugue state. It's just cool.
@viralrain: Yeah, the story is actually really great, and is pretty nuanced, exploring a lot of different elements while avoiding being hamfisted about it. The setting is also really interesting, unique, and used to great effect. I thought the writing was better than 95% of games, quite far from the middling assessment they gave it.
I was pretty skeptical of the criticism. But Vinny and crew are right. Cyberpunk 2077 is just not that good. It's a mess that steps all over itself. Very unfinished. Menus are a mess, tedious to use. The way the story is told is odd. Feels like an early access game. It's a shame. I think there's a good game underneath, if only they had a year or more to make it better.
Awesome! I actually think it's really bold of someone like St. Vincent to come on a show like this and act like a normal person, seemingly not caring about maintaining the mystique of being a rock star. Abby really killed it, too, and kept this very relaxed!
@ape_dosmil: Pascual got cancelled? Huh. I've dropped off the site a bit, so I didn't know.
"Cancellation isn't a thing, you CHUD!" - many people in this thread who are loudly cancelling someone
Yeesh. Will this attitude ever go away? I'm so tired of this. People need to learn that people make mistakes and aren't perfect, and leave room for redemption. But I'm being generous in even saying that, as I don't think what Pascual or Merritt K did is worthy of being called abuse in any capacity. In fact, it's abuse to accuse these people of abuse if what they did is not abuse.
I cannot find any actual verifiable information on why Merritt K is a bad person, just one Twitter thread where there's no receipts, and even then, it sounds more like, "Merritt K was mean to me" rather than actual abuse. But what do I know. Some of y'all get worked up over anything.
Well, I found some of the "offending tweets," and yeah, they're just her criticizing erotica or a coworker's content? If that is what equates to abuse these days, I don't know what to say. Even the person who called it out said it wasn't abuse.
And then you wonder why people walk on eggshells and decry Twitter cancellations. Look at all this hate directed at her for something that seems pretty minor to me.
This game is like Animal Crossing but actually good. The animation and writing are top-notch. If you can't tell, I really do not like these types of games, but the presentation is so good that this just really works for me. It also helps that the mechanics all work together in an excellent loop, so that there's a satisfying, though still relaxing, feeling of juggling tasks.
Everything about this game is incredibly relaxing, but it's not at the cost of thoughtful, unique gameplay.
Subscryber's comments